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Iron Maiden @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto ON, July 3rd 2010

“Saturday’s show was a real Iron Maiden show, done with passion and vigour and integrity. It was a show made for their die hard, long-supporting fans. This was no greatest hits run-through, this was a band celebrating the fact that, after more than thirty years as a professional band, some of their greatest musical achievements have been on their past three studio albums.”

Natalie Zed and Sean Palmerston team up to give you two separate viewpoints on Saturday night`s Toronto performance by Iron Maiden and Dream Theater at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Delain – Lucidity

As for the bulk of the original album, it’s what you would expect from a former member of Within Temptation (Westerholt): soaring vocals, bombastic guitar solos, pounding drums, lush keyboard and symphonic string arrangements. All played with subtlety and an attention to contrast that it seems only those in power or progressive metal remember any more

Racebannon – Wrap The Body

Wrap the Body is a neat little experiment, but is likely only bound to be wholly accepted and tolerated by Racebannon die-hards, masochistic punishment gluttons and maybe even the occasional DJ. It’s probably a good thing that only 500 of these have been pressed.

The Big Four @ Silver City Mountain, Hamilton ON, June 22, 2010

It was a neat experience to see this concert in a movie theater. A few of my own pals hummed and hawed about going, wondering why it wasn’t made available as a Pay-Per-View event, but I personally liked it better seeing it at the movies. No home distractions, no interruptions from the outside world and being in those big, comfy Silver City chairs with all the legroom you could ask for made this a more enjoyable experience than it would be with ten of my friends crammed into my living room. And I didn’t have to clean up afterwards either.

Sean Palmerston reviews the June 22nd “Big Four” event that was shown at Cineplex theaters across Canada featuring Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax live in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Black Sabbath – Classic Albums: Paranoid

That lack of needless hyperbole is exactly what makes Classic Albums – Paranoid so easy and interesting to watch. Here, viewers learn that Paranoid – the largest keystone recording in metal – was recorded recorded in two days, cut live off the floor with a minimal number of overdubs and mixed in an additional two. It was a matter of in, down and done, and then Black Sabbath left it to be mixed and released while they went to play in Europe.

Iron Maiden @ Rexall Place, Edmonton AB, June 26, 2010

The heavy metal road trip is a time-honoured tradition among metal heads. Making the trip from Calgary to Edmonton may not be the most grueling of drives, but as soon as you leave your city to see a band, your expectations instantly become higher for the experience to come. Then, add in the fact that it’s Iron Maiden that you’re seeing, and the expectations go through the roof.

While y’all were drooling over RUSH, I was getting psyched for MAIDEN!!!

Let it be known that I was not amongst the group of Hellbounders who approached the Rush feature with the same excitement as the Maiden thing we did last year. Although I could listen to my entire Rush collection in about 40 minutes, I was not feeling particularly patriotic when it came to contributing to our Canada Day Special. Like the thousands of Torontonians who fly foreign flags when Canada Day lands smack dab in the middle of the World Cup, I do not have any attachment to our country–or rather, its most successful band–on this occasion.

Hellbound Handshake Clip Of The Week: PUTRESCENCE Live at MDF 2010

Hello and welcome back to our newest running series, the Hellbound Handshake Clip of the Week! For our third installment, we are celebrating Canada’s birthday that happened yesterday (Happy Birthday Canada!) with a clip of a Canadian band doing their thing at Maryland Deathfest 2010.

This week’s clip is Winnipeg MB’s PUTRESCENCE, doing their filthy Carcass-inspired take at death/grind with a sweet little ditty entitled “Moonlight Illuminates Limbs Forced Into Impossible Directions”, taken from their 2008 Sledgehammer Holocaust.